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A Meeting of the Friends of IICS


On the 9th of January 2019, “A Meeting of the Friends of IICS” took place at the Dreamers & Craftsmen House of Social Innovation in Warsaw. The event ran under the slogan “Together we can do more”.

“A Meeting of the Friends of IICS” was a large social networking event for individuals engaged in the promotion of the idea of civil society, the propagation of civic attitudes, and actions to expand citizen engagement in public and economic life. The event’s main goal was to integrate people and an environment around the IICS foundation, and also to sum up our current activities, discuss projects currently being implemented, as well as opportunities for cooperation and challenges for the future. The leaders of non-governmental organizations and think tanks, politicians, diplomats, local government officials, entrepreneurs, representatives of culture, science, administration and the media all took part in the meeting.

The meeting — the first of its kind — began with guest greetings, as well as speeches from the foundation’s President, Mateusz Komorowski, members of the program council of IICS - Professor Renata Mieńkowska-Norkiene and Dr. Andrzej Olechowski - and special guest Daniel Olbrychski. The official part of the event was led by Editor Maciej Orłoś, who is also a member of the IICS Program Board.

At the beginning of his speech, Mateusz Komorowski recalled the formation of the IICS Analysis Center - an analytical hub that functions within the statutory activities of the IICS foundation. While it has been active for only a year, the center can already boast about a multitude of material, analysis and interviews, as well as a steadily growing team of experts, he said. Next, the foundation’s President brought up the issue of civil engagement in Poland. Unfortunately, the results of studies on the subject are staggering. As many as 63% of adult Poles don’t take part in any organization of a civic nature.

Civil society is the foundation of a democratic legal state, which is why constantly strengthening that society is key. One should remember that democracy is not given once and for all. We have become used to associate its fall with spectacular events (for example, with Mussolini’s March on Rome). In the Analysis Center’s publications we can read, among others, about the book “How Democracies Die. What History Reveals About our Future”, in which authors - Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt - make the argument that today, democracies are dying in a much less visible way. Paradoxically, the beginning of their end most often takes place at the ballot box within completely free elections. Candidates from extreme parties don’t write on their signs that they are fighting with liberal democracies, which is what Mussolini and Hitler did. Modernist would be dictators want to “return” democracy “to the people”. Madeleine Albright states this in a similar tone in her book “Fascism. A Warning”. The warning (warnings, rather) indicated in the title concern those threats posed by undermining the integrity and truthfulness of the media, trust in the courts, the electoral process and mainstream politicians, and the “medicine” that goes along with all of this. We must look after and care for democracy. Without building a strong civil society, our democracy will not be as it should. We cannot be a gray mass of individual electrons. We need to be a team. We need to search for that which connects us, as being shattered and passive we will always be weak in confrontations with power. We will reside in a civic Poland when the majority of Poles identify themselves with that idea expressed in Kennedy’s words: “. . . ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country”. The building of a strong civil society is our common task. A small amount of good will and a sense of responsibility are all that is needed. Let us get out of our comfort zone and do something for others — which does not hurt and is not difficult. It only requires a small movement in our society and to ask oneself the question: what kind of Poland do we want and what kind of Poland can we afford — he said in finishing.

The IICS Program Board members thanked everyone for their involvement in the IICS’s activities. Professor Renata Mieńkowska-Norkiene reminded those present of a few of the foundation’s initiatives, which were as special to her as the Polish-Lithuanian and Polish-Azerbaijani conferences. Dr. Andrzej Olechowski turned attention to the upcoming European elections. In May, we will decide whether to send Members of Parliament to Brussels who will strengthen our position and build a benevolent, favorable international system, or whether we’ll send destroyers — he stated. Pre-recruitment and informational activities regarding the elections to the European Parliament, in his opinion, should currently be the foundation’s priority.

In his statement, special guest Daniel Olbrychski talked about the actors strike during Martial Law and the solidarity of the environment at the time (unique on a worldwide scale). With pride he stressed that, at the time, Polish film and theatre stood as one of the most important elements of the consolidation of national consciousness. People in cinema halls and theatres felt and thought similarly. According to the actor, Martial Law consolidated Polish society in an unparalleled way that provided for the survival of the underground and the solidarity movement — and in effect the triumph of the 4th of June 1989.

The event’s official portion ended with a concert by Łukasz Zagrobelny, who is also a member of IICS’s Program Board.